I was pleasantly surprised when visiting an in game comedy show to see a mini-stand up act by an actual name. I won't spoil who, but while it's not a huge name in stand up, most people here will be happy. The stand up was, in GTA tradition, really in poor taste, which fit the atmosphere of the game and made it funny.
Actually, in the two hours I played last night, some interesting stuff went down. I'm actually rather pleased with the writing in this version.
Outside of the fishtailing (which isn't that bad, but easily the worst part of the controls), the other thing I could see annoying folks is the relationships. You have to go on dates and man-dates to keep your lovers and friends happy. They will call at bad times.
Edited By Leisher on 1210694716
GTA IV
Yeah. Was over at my buddy's last night trying it again. He's up to about three chicks + several friends. Worst bit is even if you drive to do that shit, you can get interrupted by another mission starting.Leisher wrote:Outside of the fishtailing (which isn't that bad, but easily the worst part of the controls), the other thing I could see annoying folks is the relationships. You have to go on dates and man-dates to keep your lovers and friends happy. They will call at bad times.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
He's up to about three chicks + several friends. Worst bit is even if you drive to do that shit, you can get interrupted by another mission starting.
Where's he meeting the chicks? In the storyline? I've meet one via storyline and I believe I might've met another last night via the storyline. That's two and one of them is no longer in the picture...maybe? (I can't say more without a spoiler.)
I assume he's on the third island? I just opened the second. Speaking of that, I loved how seamless they made the opening of the second island. I had no idea it opened up when it did until I was running from the police during a mission.
As for getting interrupted by missions while doing side things, you can turn the storyline off. Simply open your cell phone and in the options you can choose to stop the storyline so that you have a chance to explore and do whatever you want without anyone bugging you. Pretty nice feature.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
Yeah, but it's still crossing way too close to SimLife territory for my taste in a few places.
I wanted more shit like the skill system in SA & less like owning a fucking cellphone.
I wanted more shit like the skill system in SA & less like owning a fucking cellphone.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Eh, I'm a bit torn.
While you're right about the "SimLife" thing, I do think the dates and hanging out "missions" add something to the game.
While I don't like how they'll call you while you're actually on a mission and you lose points with them if you don't drop what you're doing and go hang out, I do like how you have to earn their respect to get new options.
For example: Once Roman likes you enough, you can call his cabs for pick up from anywhere in the city. Later, when he likes you even more, you can drive his cabs and pick up folks.
I was a bit more impressed with the radio last night when "Goodbye Horses" came on. That had me laughing.
I also could've sworn I heard Toledo, Ohio mentioned on the in game radio last night. I know he was talking about Joe Walsh, but I was busy racing at the time so I didn't hear it all.
While you're right about the "SimLife" thing, I do think the dates and hanging out "missions" add something to the game.
While I don't like how they'll call you while you're actually on a mission and you lose points with them if you don't drop what you're doing and go hang out, I do like how you have to earn their respect to get new options.
For example: Once Roman likes you enough, you can call his cabs for pick up from anywhere in the city. Later, when he likes you even more, you can drive his cabs and pick up folks.
I was a bit more impressed with the radio last night when "Goodbye Horses" came on. That had me laughing.
I also could've sworn I heard Toledo, Ohio mentioned on the in game radio last night. I know he was talking about Joe Walsh, but I was busy racing at the time so I didn't hear it all.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
Did someone drop the game rating system and not tell me?
It's a long story, but essentially yes and no. How's that for confusing? The major retailers stopped recognizing it for some reason. However, there is a new one in place by the same people...
I think there might be another thread here someone discussing it.
Long story short though, games are still rated as provided by the ESRB. (Their wiki might have more info on the recent...whatever it was.)
Apparently she can reduce wanted levels if you date her enough.
I've never dated her. I heard she can only reduce it if it's 2 (maybe 3 stars). There are two more out there. I know one heals you. Not sure what the other one does.
I never bothered with them as my friends bugged me enough during the game about hanging out, I didn't need more people bugging me.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
Not sure if I ever posted a "final word" on GTA IV (I didn't see anything in this chain).
Anyway, I think that this game really took things to a new level and was just what the franchise needed after the extremely sub-par effort in "GTA: San Andreas", which was the developer's laziest effort.
GTA IV puts you in the shoes of a Russian (illegal) immigrant who hasn't come to the U.S. simply for opportunity. He has a personal mission to fulfill and that storyline carries you throughout GTA IV. Yes, you are a criminal and you'll do criminal things, but no GTA game has ever touched upon the morality of what you're doing quite like this one does.
That's not to say it does it well. You can still run around and be a psycho if you'd like, but there are different consequences now, particularly in the story, which is a cool change of pace.
The driving issues that I complained about initially are less of a concern as you put in more playing time, but even as I got used to the excessive skidding and out of control turns, I still think this was the weakest part of the game. I hope this is an issue the developers address in the sequel.
My only complaints aside from the driving are:
-The frequency of the "come hang out" phone calls from friends. This was a bit much, particularly for those gamers, like myself, who like to explore and do everything within a game. To make matters worse, if you missed a call, ignored a call, or otherwise refused to hang out, those characters would not like you as much. Having a character, particularly my own cousin, lose "friendship" for me because I can't hang out at that moment is pretty stupid. This system is a great idea, but needs to be overhauled in the next version.
-The races, although not my favorite part of the GTA series, were pretty scarce this time around and pretty easy. The only race I didn't win on my first try was one I tried to race in a helicopter. In that case, I think I caused too much damage to another race car prior to the race starting as I was landing in the assigned start position.
-One thing that is always lacking in the GTA games is the sheer amount of terrain versus how much there is to do or see. Yes, there is a TON to do in these games, but there's even more terrain that goes wasted. I'd like to see more missions or side missions that get the whole map involved rather than certain hot spots.
-More interactivity. I can't stress that enough. There is a "Times Square" in this game, yet there's really nothing to do there. There's an arcade in Chinatown that I was very disappointed to see that I couldn't enter. Having a few games within the arcade that you could actually play would've been pretty cool. All the basketball courts could've used a ball so that Nicko could shoot a few. Hell, it would've been cool to see some people playing the game. Ditto for all the empty pools. I also would've liked the option to hit a bucket of balls at the driving range. If they can work in darts, bowling, and billiards, I have to imagine that eventually, they'll work in some other activities.
That's really it. There are some other little things here and there that could be fixed, but overall this was a damn good game.
Anyway, my final word is that I highly recommend this game to anyone. You'll more than get your money's worth out of it as there's a ridiculous amount of game play within. The story and characters are very well done. The graphics are the best in the series. Yada. Yada. Yada.
9 out of 10.
Anyway, I think that this game really took things to a new level and was just what the franchise needed after the extremely sub-par effort in "GTA: San Andreas", which was the developer's laziest effort.
GTA IV puts you in the shoes of a Russian (illegal) immigrant who hasn't come to the U.S. simply for opportunity. He has a personal mission to fulfill and that storyline carries you throughout GTA IV. Yes, you are a criminal and you'll do criminal things, but no GTA game has ever touched upon the morality of what you're doing quite like this one does.
That's not to say it does it well. You can still run around and be a psycho if you'd like, but there are different consequences now, particularly in the story, which is a cool change of pace.
The driving issues that I complained about initially are less of a concern as you put in more playing time, but even as I got used to the excessive skidding and out of control turns, I still think this was the weakest part of the game. I hope this is an issue the developers address in the sequel.
My only complaints aside from the driving are:
-The frequency of the "come hang out" phone calls from friends. This was a bit much, particularly for those gamers, like myself, who like to explore and do everything within a game. To make matters worse, if you missed a call, ignored a call, or otherwise refused to hang out, those characters would not like you as much. Having a character, particularly my own cousin, lose "friendship" for me because I can't hang out at that moment is pretty stupid. This system is a great idea, but needs to be overhauled in the next version.
-The races, although not my favorite part of the GTA series, were pretty scarce this time around and pretty easy. The only race I didn't win on my first try was one I tried to race in a helicopter. In that case, I think I caused too much damage to another race car prior to the race starting as I was landing in the assigned start position.
-One thing that is always lacking in the GTA games is the sheer amount of terrain versus how much there is to do or see. Yes, there is a TON to do in these games, but there's even more terrain that goes wasted. I'd like to see more missions or side missions that get the whole map involved rather than certain hot spots.
-More interactivity. I can't stress that enough. There is a "Times Square" in this game, yet there's really nothing to do there. There's an arcade in Chinatown that I was very disappointed to see that I couldn't enter. Having a few games within the arcade that you could actually play would've been pretty cool. All the basketball courts could've used a ball so that Nicko could shoot a few. Hell, it would've been cool to see some people playing the game. Ditto for all the empty pools. I also would've liked the option to hit a bucket of balls at the driving range. If they can work in darts, bowling, and billiards, I have to imagine that eventually, they'll work in some other activities.
That's really it. There are some other little things here and there that could be fixed, but overall this was a damn good game.
Anyway, my final word is that I highly recommend this game to anyone. You'll more than get your money's worth out of it as there's a ridiculous amount of game play within. The story and characters are very well done. The graphics are the best in the series. Yada. Yada. Yada.
9 out of 10.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
I hate that I never know if the car I take to a mission will be the car I leave the mission with. Early on, I lost a couple of nice cars this way.
Making me drive more doesn't make a mission better.
The missions are too repetitive. I just finished the longest one I've done yet (at the boat/shipping docks), and it's just "climb something and sniper, then move down and assault rifle/uzi" repeated for an hour.
It's OK. I'm not quite done yet (60%), but I think the game ends at 69% or so if you dont do all the extra crap.
Making me drive more doesn't make a mission better.
The missions are too repetitive. I just finished the longest one I've done yet (at the boat/shipping docks), and it's just "climb something and sniper, then move down and assault rifle/uzi" repeated for an hour.
It's OK. I'm not quite done yet (60%), but I think the game ends at 69% or so if you dont do all the extra crap.
It's not me, it's someone else.
The GTA series isn't made with the casual gamer in mind. Sure, they might enjoy it too, but they'll just rent it and be done in a few days.
The developers are more focused on giving more hardcore gamers a large story, a huge sandbox, and lots of immersion. I'm pretty sure GTA was either the first or damn near the first game to award the 100% completion acheivement. The game is literally packed with stuff to do, stuff to find, people to meet, places to explore, etc. Hell, you can just sit in your apartment and watch TV for 30 minutes if you want to.
So I'd say a statement about repetition might be warranted if one were only looking at one small part of the game, but taken in an overall context, it's not fair. Even saying that, I'm not sure I agree with the main storyline being called repetitive. I absolutely get what you mean, as it is a crime game and most missions are solved via gunplay, but what more should we be looking for out of the game? I like the fact that the mob bosses you work for throughout aren't sending you to steal certain cars or execute pigeons or hang out with your friends or compete in street races, etc. Those things should be seperated.
Still, I could see different missions being carried out. How about a mission where the player must actually not be seen or hurt anyone? He's got the find a way into a building to steal something and then get out again. A police station would be great for that. Remember the mission from Vice City where you had to find a perch to take photos of the senator sleeping with his mistress and then you had to get away from the thugs that came after you? That was great.
One of my biggest complaints is that too many good locations went unused. Hell, the whole third island seemed that way to me.
I think in future GTA games they should open the whole city up from the start instead of creating fake emergencies that have the islands closed off from one another. I think that would help them get the whole city more involved in the storyline rather than just a tiny section at a time.
I didn't mind the drives to missions. In fact, I thought it added a level of immersion. Doesn't it make more sense for a game trying to be a life simulator of sorts to actually have you travel in its city to get to where you're supposed to be? I like the fact that any companions with you essentially act as narrators covering what needs to be done on the way.
Those little details were missing from their last game, GTA: San Andreas, which is why it's considered the worst in the series.
All that taken into consideration, there is one thing I'd like to see returned to the GTA series: Rampages. They were such a nice distraction from the main storyline. Sometimes you just want to kill shit. Sure, it pulls one out of the story and reminds you it's a video game, but that's what it is after all.
Hmmm, a mini-GTA rant. Think I'll go to their forums and bitch about rampages.
The developers are more focused on giving more hardcore gamers a large story, a huge sandbox, and lots of immersion. I'm pretty sure GTA was either the first or damn near the first game to award the 100% completion acheivement. The game is literally packed with stuff to do, stuff to find, people to meet, places to explore, etc. Hell, you can just sit in your apartment and watch TV for 30 minutes if you want to.
So I'd say a statement about repetition might be warranted if one were only looking at one small part of the game, but taken in an overall context, it's not fair. Even saying that, I'm not sure I agree with the main storyline being called repetitive. I absolutely get what you mean, as it is a crime game and most missions are solved via gunplay, but what more should we be looking for out of the game? I like the fact that the mob bosses you work for throughout aren't sending you to steal certain cars or execute pigeons or hang out with your friends or compete in street races, etc. Those things should be seperated.
Still, I could see different missions being carried out. How about a mission where the player must actually not be seen or hurt anyone? He's got the find a way into a building to steal something and then get out again. A police station would be great for that. Remember the mission from Vice City where you had to find a perch to take photos of the senator sleeping with his mistress and then you had to get away from the thugs that came after you? That was great.
One of my biggest complaints is that too many good locations went unused. Hell, the whole third island seemed that way to me.
I think in future GTA games they should open the whole city up from the start instead of creating fake emergencies that have the islands closed off from one another. I think that would help them get the whole city more involved in the storyline rather than just a tiny section at a time.
I didn't mind the drives to missions. In fact, I thought it added a level of immersion. Doesn't it make more sense for a game trying to be a life simulator of sorts to actually have you travel in its city to get to where you're supposed to be? I like the fact that any companions with you essentially act as narrators covering what needs to be done on the way.
Those little details were missing from their last game, GTA: San Andreas, which is why it's considered the worst in the series.
All that taken into consideration, there is one thing I'd like to see returned to the GTA series: Rampages. They were such a nice distraction from the main storyline. Sometimes you just want to kill shit. Sure, it pulls one out of the story and reminds you it's a video game, but that's what it is after all.
Hmmm, a mini-GTA rant. Think I'll go to their forums and bitch about rampages.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell